Vending machines, including those adapted to dispense beverage containers, such as cans and plastic bottles, for example, are well known and widely used. Vending machines commonly use a component known as a basket, rotor or bucket to selectively dispense the beverage containers and/or other products from the vending machine. In the interest of clarity and ease of reading, the term bucket will be used throughout this application to refer to such components, though it will be appreciated that the other mentioned terms are also commonly used. The buckets work in conjunction with various other components of the vending machine to ensure that only one beverage container or other product is dispensed per vend operation. As such, these components are known to take various forms and configurations depending upon the structure and features of the other surrounding components. However, it is generally desirable for these components to be of a thin-walled construction so that the overall size thereof can be minimized. This avoids interference with other associated parts and components, and also generally contributes to minimizing or reducing the overall size of the vending machine.
Typically, a bucket includes an elongated body portion that is at least somewhat cylindrically shaped. The body portion includes an inside surface that forms a channel that extends longitudinally along the body portion between a pair of opposing end walls. The bucket is typically supported within the vending machine on each of the end walls. A bearing surface is often provided on each end wall for engaging the vending machine. Additionally, suitable features can be provided on one of the end walls for transmitting rotational motion from a motor or other actuator located within the vending machine.
The buckets are typically disposed horizontally within a vending machine and must be sufficiently rigid to support the force of two or more beverage containers falling vertically from above into the bucket. Additionally, a torsional load is also applied to the bucket as the same rotates to dispense the individual beverage containers. As such, the bucket must have sufficient torsional rigidity to withstand any such load. Due to the desired thin-walled construction discussed above, buckets molded from polymeric materials have been found to have insufficient rigidity. For this and other reasons, buckets are typically manufactured out of metallic materials, such as zinc or aluminum. Buckets manufactured from zinc are typically die cast, while buckets made of aluminum are commonly extruded with end walls attached thereto, such as by welding, for example.
Die cast zinc buckets suffer from a number of disadvantages that tend to increase costs of the part and can also result in reduced quality. One such disadvantage is the extensive lead time that is commonly required for die casting such parts. It is well understood that longer lead times limit the manufacturers ability to react to market or customer demands. Additionally, die casting tooling tends to wear significantly under production use, especially in areas of the tooling that produce tightly toleranced parts. As such, significant repair costs are often associated with maintaining die cast tooling in condition to produce such tightly toleranced parts. Furthermore, even with such maintenance of the tooling, die cast parts commonly require secondary operations to produce a finished part. For example, certain features of die cast buckets are typically re-struck to finished dimensions and/or conditions after the die casting process. This further adds to the cost, as well as the already substantial lead time for die cast buckets.
Aluminum buckets are typically manufactured by extruding the elongated body portion out of a suitable aluminum material. A pair of opposing end walls are then attached to the ends of the elongated body portion. Usually, the end walls are also formed from aluminum, and are manufactured in any suitable manner, such as being machined from bar stock, for example. The end walls can be attached to the elongated body portion in any suitable manner, however, welding is typically used. Aluminum buckets tend to suffer from the disadvantages similar to those discussed above. Namely, aluminum buckets are typically expensive to manufacture. This is due, at least in part, to material costs as well as the costs associated with secondary operations, such as machining and welding operations. As such, it is desirable to develop a bucket having the desired strength and rigidity but, also, that is efficient and economical to manufacture.